Wrth i gymunedau a gwirfoddolwyr trawsysgrifio’r 390,296 o lofnodion yn Neiseb Heddwch Menywod Cymru 1923 i America, mae llawer wedi bod yn cofio ac yn rhannu’r straeon y tu ôl i enwau’r genhedlaeth hon o fenywod gwnaeth hawlio heddwch. Pwy oedden nhw – a pha neges gallai fod ganddyn nhw i ni 100 mlynedd yn ddiweddarach.

Roedd prosiect ‘Hidden Histories’ dan arweiniad WCIA yn gwahodd pobl ledled Cymru i ddatgelu a rhannu ‘straeon heddwch’ y tu ôl i’r 390,296 o fenywod a lofnododd y Ddeiseb Heddwch – nid dim ond ‘y gwych a’r da’, ond y miloedd o fenywod cyffredin ledled Cymru llofnododd yn sgil y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf er mwyn hawlio heddwch.

Cyfrannwyd y stori hon a deunydd ategol gan Shelagh Fishlock.

[stori wedi ei gyfrannu yn Saesneg yn unig]

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Sarah Ann Edwards, Farmer’s Wife, Tryddyn, Mold

The signature of Sarah Ann Edwards appears on the Women’s Peace Petition as “Mrs S A Edwards” and her address is given as “Tryddyn Mill Farm, near Mold”. By looking at the 1921 and 1911 census we can see that she is a Farmer’s wife, born in Tryddyn and mother to five children and with a little more digging, staff at North East Wales Archives have been able to find out more about Sarah and why she put her name to the campaign for peace 100 years ago.  

Sarah was in her 50s with adult children when she signed the petition and by searching for her son’s names and addresses on the NEWA online catalogue one search result appeared within the Flintshire War Memorial Index. The card index is comprised of over 10,000 Flintshire men (and one woman) who served in 1914-1918 war. The cards include those who survived the war (headed ‘L’ for Living) and those who were killed or died of wounds (headed ‘F’ for Fallen). Sarah’s son, Johnnie Edwards had served in France. Even though he returned from The Front alive, this may have been her motivation for signing the petition.  

Through searching for Sarah’s name in the NEWA online catalogue, evidence appears in another collection which may explain why she signed the petition. Sarah appears in the reception order index for patients admitted to the North Wales Hospital, the regional asylum which had opened in 1848 in Denbigh. By looking at her reception order (the first paperwork completed on admission to the hospital) we have learned that she was first admitted in August 1917 and supposed cause was given as “a son joining the army” where she remained until discharged in October 1918. The 1918 annual report for the hospital states that 19% of new admissions were attributed to “war worry”, and this included both civilian and non-civilians.  

Her case notes reveal more about what she was experiencing at the time. The notes state she “seems frightened when spoken to and says she is worrying over her son in the army”, they go on to say she is “imagining evil things since her son joined the army”.  

Within the asylum work was seen as a therapy and as a result patients were employed in various roles, both to aid their recovery and also to support the running of the asylum. Women were employed in the kitchen, and laundry and performed various cleaning duties, whilst men were employed in gardening and outdoor work. Sarah was employed in the laundry and her case notes tell us of a life changing injury Sarah experienced whilst she was there. On 9th August 1918 she caught her right hand in the rollers of a machine. The notes state “in order to free the garment she was putting through, she put her hand over the guard with the result that her hand became drawn in… no bones were broken but four fingers were practically denuded of all the soft tissue”. A few days later she had four fingers on her right hand amputated.

The story of Sarah Ann Edwards is one of an ordinary woman in the 1920s driven to sign a petition for future peace by the experience she and her family had during the First World War. We can see from our archival collections that the anxiety and strain suffered by those at home had great impact and with the women’s peace petition came a chance for those people to campaign for a warless world.  

Collections referenced in this article are held by The North East Wales Archives (www.newa.wales).